Following yesterdays’​ decision by the DWP to sack A4E from just one small mandatory work contract, the National Audit Office (NAO)has now accused the department of failing to properly investigate the company or many others who have possibly been guilty of defrauding the taxpayer.

The NAO says that the DWP investigation team failed to request vital evidence before completing its investigation into A4E, which concluded that there was no evidence of fraud but that because of poor procedures in place it was ending one of the companies 16 contracts with the department.

The NAO report found that the DWP knew of the risk of fraud in back-to-work programmes but failed to make even the most basic checks, such as contacting employers to see if they really had given claimants jobs.

Of £​773,000 worth of fraud by private companies actually uncovered by the DWP, only £​410,000 has so far been repaid.

Full story in the Guardian.

Comments

Write comments...
or post as a guest
Loading comment... The comment will be refreshed after 00:00.

Be the first to comment.

Free PIP, ESA & UC Updates!

Delivered Fortnightly

Over 110,000 claimants and professionals subscribe to the UK's leading source of benefits news.

 
iContact
We use cookies

We use cookies on our website. Some of them are essential for the operation of the site, while others help us to improve this site and the user experience (tracking cookies). You can decide for yourself whether you want to allow cookies or not. Please note that if you reject them, you may not be able to use all the functionalities of the site.